Jem and Jane

When we first conceived this six week trip from Ushuaia to Mendoza I envisaged that we would be spending almost all our time in Argentina. As it turns out we will actually be travelling for over half our time in Chile. You see a difference as soon as you cross the border. In Chile the pavements/sidewalks are always in better shape and you can see from the infrastructure around you that its economy is stronger than Argentina’s. The prices in Chile are not far off those in the UK and apparently the distribution of wealth is far more extreme – the minimum wage is $400USD/month and the average $700USD. There is an openness and friendliness about all the people we have met. Take, for example, Gladys, our AirBnB landlady during our stay in Castro. She always ... read more

"It’s the glaciers, Stupid!" Yes, Patagonia has picturesque dramatic mountain peaks: Yes, it has awesomely beautiful lakes and majestic wildlife: And if there is one thing that makes it stands it out from the crowd it is its glaciers. The Southern Patagonian ice field is the third largest in the world (after Antarctica and Greenland) and by far the most accessible. The glaciers flow off the ice sheet down to 200 metres above sea level, well below the tree line. And Perito Moreno glacier is the ‘Hollywood’ of all glaciers: It is almost as if it was created for tourism. It finishes its 17 km journey opposite a promontory that divides two glacial lakes on the Argentinian side of the border. There are a series of board walks so you can view the glacier flowing down ... read more

Lunes cerrado/closed Mondays! What the ….? We had just driven 250km on dirt roads in our little rentacar to find that the only king penguin colony outside of the Antarctic was closed on Mondays and it was Monday! Jane was turning crimson and I started to laugh (which probably didn’t help). The place was deserted. There was no one to plead with. We had arrived at the end of Bahia Inutil/Useless Bay (sic) a great gash in the Western side of Terra del Fuego. What tempered our frustration was the picturesque surroundings and the blue sky sliced by waves of high cloud. In the distance the snow-capped mountains of the Darwin range were visible behind the closer peaks of Dawson island. The Magellan Straits, apparently up to a kilometre deep at this point, spread ... read more

We waffed into Zeski harbour and promptly ran aground! The Kapitanat shouted instructions from the dock in Polish and German. The one thing Artur had not told us was how to raise the keel. "It must be that blue rope". So we safely made it into dock and my pulse started to soften.We had come to the Great Masurian Lakes in Poland's North East to try something different and were discovering the local sailing methods for the first time. This was part of a two week holiday from our UK jobs and I would not normally write about such a short trip. The Masurian Lakes and the relaxing sailing they offer deserve to be better known in Western Europe and there is little information to help you on the web.Obviously the area is well known in ... read more

Wairarapa June 21 2015 The travelling really stopped in Darwin. Sydney was better than we expected and now we are in New Zealand we are on familiar territory. This our fifth visit in the twenty five years Jane's sister Rachel has been living here. A major highlight of any visit to New Zealand is just to come out and experience rural life in the Wairarapa which is so very different from anywhere in the South East of England and most of Europe. This time we were able to share it for a few days with our new travel buddies, Emma and Moos. Travelling has always been for me about who you meet and sharing experiences rather than looking at inanimate objects, no matter how old and incredible. So it was great that we could link up ... read more